Vibratory compactors are commonly employed for compacting freshly laid asphalt paving, soils, and similar materials. The compactor comprises a drum resiliently and rotatably mounted in a frame assembly wherein an eccentric mounting shaft is located and rotates relative to the drum and which vibrates the drum to provide the desired compaction of the material being worked. The shaft is rotatably mounted in the drum by a pair of longitudinally spaced bearing assemblies which must exhibit high load-carrying capacities during operation of the compactor.
The bearing assemblies normally comprise spherical or tapered roller bearings which require precise preloading to insure maximum system rigidity. Continued use of the compactor oftentimes requires readjustment of the preloading to continuously insure such system rigidity. In addition, the outer races or rings of the bearing assemblies must be precisely aligned longitudinally by a line-boring operation to insure that the rotational axes of the shaft and drum are co-incident to avoid the imposition of adverse loads on the bearing assemblies. Such line-boring is expensive and does not always insure such precise alignment.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.